Friday, March 29 - Monday, April 1, 2002

Okay, it's August 6, 2002, and I can't find the notes from this trip... so it'll be a short trip report! I know, that's what I get for procrastinating. Thanks to Helen for volunteering to write down the logging road radio frequencies when I called them out so that I wouldn't have to stop to write them down myself; that record is the only thing I have that will help to jog my memory.

THURSDAY NIGHT

The plan was to meet at the designated campsite beneath the powerlines at Alexander Bridge Provincial Park; Ryan and Craig were already there in Ryan's 4Runner, and Norm & Helen, and I were convoying out together. The weather was good, but cold. We usually say "get there when you can, and we're leaving in the morning", which accomodates everyone's schedules.

FRIDAY

I had just woken, and was contemplating getting up. Then I heard the revving of a motor down the trail, and Colin roared into the campsite, honking his horn to wake everyone up. That did it, and soon we were making breakfast.

We left camp via the steep crawl up to the Catermole Mainline, where we turned left. We soon arrived back at Hwy 1, where we headed north, following the Fraser Canyon. At Lytton, we stayed right, and followed the Thompson River. We stopped for lunch at the CN Rail suspension bridge by the train tunnels for lunch, then continued on to Cache Creek where we fueled up. A funny side note, when I was showing the photos of the suspension bridge to my friend Gontran who kayaks through this part of the river, he couldn't remember ever seeing the bridge. It wasn't until I showed him the photo of the bridge from below that he suddenly remembered it, as he's only seen it from water level. :) Still on Hwy 1, we headed east from Cache Creek along the south perimeter of Arrowstone Provincial Park, then turned right onto Walhachin Road to have lunch by the wooden bridge.

After lunch, we hit the highway again, and passed through Kamloops. Somewhere along here, I lost a bolt from where the exhaust pipe enters the catalytic converter, which also resulted in the gasket dropping out, accompanied by the deafening roar of the mighty unmuffled 22RE. I put on the hearing protection, and continued on. We spotted a large patch of ice floating in Kamloops Lake, perhaps a sign of things to come. We turned right onto Hwy 97 at Monte Creek, and headed south-east down the road. Just before Monte Lake, we turned left onto Paxton Valley Rd, and finally left the pavement behind. The road was a dirt road with a layer of mud on top; we could hear the mud being thrown up into our wheelwells, and our trucks quickly became covered. As we climbed in elevation, a layer of snow started to cover the road. We checked out Ivor Creek Rd on the left; it wound up through a freshly-logged area, and terminated at a deep cross-ditch. The road did continue on past the ditch, but the ditch was constructed so that vehicles would be unable pass. We turned around, and headed back to Paxton Valley Rd. We stopped for a photo op in one spot; I climbed up from the road onto the snow so that I'd be able to fit all of the trucks into the picture. I had JUST noticed that the tree wells around me were surrounding the tops of trees, and had about enough time to think to myself that I was standing on deep snow, when *whoop* I fell through the crust and found myself crotch-deep in wet snow. Doh!

It was now starting to get late, so we decided to head for the Chase Creek Rec Site to set up camp. Along a flat, icy curve, Colin suddenly found himself sliding into the left-hand ditch. No amount of jockeying would free him, so I tugged him out with a tug strap. We turned right at Chase-Falkland Rd, and quickly found ourselves at the rec site, which was covered in snow and ice. We set up camp, and lit a campfire to warm ourselves up.

SATURDAY

The next morning, we took the Chase-Falkland Rd north to Shuswap, and took Hwy 1 into Chase. Our first stop was the Home Hardware for nuts, bolts, and lock washers, then UAP/Napa for the exhaust gasket. I repaired the leaking exhaust in the UAP/Napa parking lot, and was rewarded with the sound of... silence! Whoo-hoo!

We took Hwy 1 out of Chase, and headed to Salmon Arm, where we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, and decided where to head to next. We decided that the area surrounding Mabel Lake to the east would offer some good trails. For some reason, Ryan decided to spend a couple of minutes at the coin-op car wash to hose off all of the accumulated mud from his 4Runner (wienie!), while the rest of us laughed at him. We spotted a first-gen Toyota pickup sporting a narrowed full-size Chevy step-side box; the body lines lined up amazingly well, so I took a photo for future reference. We exited Salmon Arm south on Hwy 97A, and in Enderby, turned left onto Enderby - Mable Lake Rd. We tried heading north on Cooke - Grassy FSR, but the snow was too deep. It was around 15:00h hours, so we decided to find a suitable campsite and set up a bit early. Not much 'wheeling today, but who cares, we're on vacation! We turned right into the Cooke Creek Rec Site, and drove through the axle-deep snow down to the Shuswap River, where we set up camp. Fortunately, we were able to find an area beneath the tree canopy that was relatively free of snow. Craig started a campfire by carefully constructing a teepee of kindling, and it turned out to be one of the best campfires of the trip.

SUNDAY

We decided that some trails to the south would be in order, perhaps there'd be a bit less snow and we'd actually be able to get somewhere. We decided to try the Aberdeen area, south-east of Vernon. We got back onto the Enderby - Mabel Lake Rd, and headed west to Ashton Creek. We then took Trinity Valley Rd south towards Lumby.

Somewhere near Trinity Valley, I slowed down as I spotted a white rabbit with dark ears hopping across the road. I warned everyone to watch out for it, and took a photo of it out my side window as I passed it. Then I thought it would be neat to get a photo of it with the trucks in the background, being Easter Sunday and all, so I exited the truck. As I took the photo, I noticed a second white rabbit coming over the snowbank. I walked over to check it out, and to my surprise a tan rabbit hopped out from the snowbank. Then another white rabbit. Then a large brown rabbit! In total, I think eight rabbits were hopping around on the road, a couple of them doing what rabbits do best. I guess there won't be any shortage of Easter bunnies for NEXT year. :) Norm thought that seeing bunnies on Easter Sunday in Trinity Valley was absolutely hilarious. What are the chances??

For those who don't know, "Easter" is a Christian religious holiday in Canada, and the arrival of the mythical "Easter Bunny" in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning is a tradition much anticipated by children, who usually wake to find that they've received chocolate eggs and other goodies.

We eventually hit Mabel Lake Rd, and turned right and finally drove into Lumby, where we fueled up at the Petro-Can. A local walked up to us and asked if we could tow his full-size GMC 4x4 to the gas station, as he had run out of fuel a block away, so Colin hooked him up with a strap and dragged him into the station. Norm and Helen left us at this point as they had other commitments, and headed west towards Vernon. After fueling, we took Hwy 6 west to Lavington, and after driving around for a couple minutes trying to find the road, took Aberdeen Lake Rd south.

Aberdeen Lake Rd climbed continuously, and Ryan soon found that much of of the road had a layer of melting snow over it, which quickly got his 4Runner all muddy again. :) We took a branch to the left called Haddo Main in the hopes of getting to Aberdeen Lake (1275m), but we found that it was quite icy which made uphill progress quite difficult. We went back up to Aberdeen Lake Rd, where we found a sunny section of shelf road and had lunch. It was extremely windy here, and we watched one of the tall trees swaying about 15' from center as we cooked and ate our lunch behind the shelter of our trucks.

After lunch, we took the right fork onto the Dee Lake Rd, with the snow growing deeper. A waist-high wall of snow prevented us from accessing the rec sites along the road; we were driving on snow packed down by snowmobiles, and if we got too far off the tracks we'd break through the crust and sink. As we neared the Dee Lake Lodge, we got passed by a few snowmobiles carrying fishing rods; apparently they were out ice fishing on the nearby lakes. About a kilometer past Doreen Lake we found ourselves breaking through the crust and foundering in the deep snow, making driving further highly impractical. We turned around, and headed back to Aberdeen Lake Rd.

We turned right off Aberdeen Lake Rd onto Ideal Lake FSR, to see if we could make it to the Ideal Lake Rec Site (1300m). The snow was packed down fairly well, and we had little difficulty driving; just a bit of sideways sliding on the uphill grades. We crested a pass to find a snow berm across the road, with fresh, unpacked snow in front of us. It appeared that the road we were on had been plowed up to this point, and it was virgin snow after the berm. We knew that we would immediately sink in the soft stuff, so once again we turned around. It appeared that the elevation of this entire area was too high this early in the year, so we decided to head to a lower elevation to camp. After consulting the map, we decided to head for the east side of Mabel Lake, to try to camp at one of the rec sites.

Back north down Aberdeen Lake Rd to Lavington, then east to Lumby for fuel (again). We took Mabel Lake Rd through the farmland and eventually arrived at the south end of Maple Lake (395m). I spotted a little shelf road climbing down towards the lake, so I swung around to check it out. It turned out to be a pleasant campsite right on the beach, so we decided to park our trucks and set up camp.

It was getting dark by the time we'd set up our respective camps; I used my chainsaw to cut firewood with the light of Colin's propane lantern. One of the boards had a nail in it that I didn't see, and sparks flew when the chain hit it. Fortunately, that was one of the last pieces, as the chain was pretty dull after that. After we got the campfire going, the rain started up. Ryan and Craig cooked up some pretty good burgers on my Coleman Grille/Stove, and we ate dinner as the water ran through our camp. Eventually we got tired of the rain, and we retired for the night. I was glad that I was sleeping in my truck, and not in a soggy tent on the wet ground. Actually, everyone was sleeping in trucks on this trip.

MONDAY

As we left camp, I noticed that I had cellular phone coverage with my mobile phone. However, once we were back up at the road, I no longer had a signal. We headed north along Mabel Lake Rd to check out some of the offshoots that the map showed. We soon found that although Mabel Lake Rd was plowed, the snow level prevented us from checking out the side roads. In fact, it turned out that the road was plowed because of a business near the Cottonwood Bay Rec Sites, and the plowed road led right to their gate. Continuing further north along Mabel Lake Rd was impossible as it was not plowed. We did note a rough little road crossing Tsuius Creek which apparently led back to Mabel Lake Rd; it might be something to check out once the snow was gone.

By this time, we'd all pretty much had enough of the snow, and we decided to call it a weekend. We headed back down Mabel Lake Rd to Lumby, and fueled up at the Petro-Can for third time, the attendants were probably wondering where all the muddy Toyota 4x4's were coming from. We headed south of Hwy 97A, went through Vernon, then continued south on Hwy 97. Ryan dropped Craig off at his house in Kelowna, and I picked up my spare rear axle housing. Craig pointed out a couple of oil spots in the visitor's parking spot beneath my rear diff, but I thought that it looked like it was from another vehicle as the spots were in a couple of different places.

We finally hit the highway and headed back towards Vancouver. We drove through Penticton and took Hwy 3A to Keremeos. Just before Keremeos, I spotted a huge painted wood cut-out of a bear peeking over the hill, an advertisement for a fruit stand, and I pulled over to take a photo of it for my brother who collects bear memorabilia. Ryan pulled over as well, down the road and just past a hitch-hiker, who figured that Ryan had pulled over to pick her up, and started walking towards him. Realizing this, Ryan started inching forward down the road, as the hitchhiker hurried to catch up. After I took my photo, but before I reached the hitch-hiker (who by this time had realized that Ryan was NOT going to pick her up), I pulled over again to take another, closer shot of the bear cut-out. The hitch-hiker spotted me, and started walking towards me this time. I finished taking my photo, then pulled back onto the highway and drove past her; she had a really confused look on her face, and was probably thinking that drivers of muddy Toyota 4x4's were a bunch of idiots. :)

When we passed through Hedley, I stopped to take a photo of the Mascot Mine buildings, located on the side of a cliff just above the town. We were planning on heading to this area during the May long weekend to explore.

Several hours later, I was driving through Burnaby in the darkness when I suddenly heard a loud grinding noise from the rear axle; when I was on the gas it was fine, but when I got off the gas it sounded like metal-on-metal scraping and grinding. Damn! I pulled over to have a look as traffic whizzed by. Gear oil covered the rear diff and axle housing. Hmm, I guess Craig was right, and something had let go after all. I hate it when that happens! Oh well, at least I wasn't out on the trail. It was late, I was too tired to deal with it, and since the truck sort of drove okay while I was on the gas, I fired it back up and kept on the gas until I got home to North Vancouver. I stuck a drip tray under the diff, had a shower, and went to bed, wondering how much this was going to cost me.

The next day I had it towed out to Al at 4OffRd who had set up the diff when I broke the pinion gear back in the Fall. Al reported that the pinion nut had backed off, but after an inspection found that there was no damage to the innards. Whoo! He installed a new pinion seal and I was on my way, no charge. THANKS AL!

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